Everton v Liverpool
Sunday 4th October – Kickoff: 1330hrs
Football – England – Premier League
There will be no love lost come kick-off time at Goodison Park on Sunday, as Everton host their bitter rivals Liverpool in the first Merseyside derby of the season. Although sometimes referred to as the ‘friendly derby’ as a result of the number of families in the city who have split loyalties, it is the fixture responsible for the most red cards in Premier League history – so there’s plenty of rivalry on the park.
Everton could not be coming into this crunch game in any better mood having come from two goals behind away to West Brom and end up winning the game 3-2 to clinch another three points and leapfrog Liverpool in the table. Although it’s very early days in terms of placings, there will be a slight psychological impact and the nature of that come-from-behind win at the Hawthorns will have them flying for this one. Their only defeat thus far came against Manchester City, but having already beaten the current champions – Chelsea – at home in this campaign, the Toffees will be keen to show they’re capable of taking on, and beating, the best the Premier League has to offer.
If the blue half of the city are feeling confident and well about themselves, and the start their team has made to the season, it is probably the opposite of the red half of Merseyside. Liverpool have shown glimpses of the sort of football that many believe they are capable of, particularly away to Arsenal and at home to Aston Villa, but more often than not they have flattered to deceive and looked disjointed. Brendan Rodgers has been under pressure for the majority of the campaign after a disappointing 2014/15 season, and that pressure was only intensified when losing 3-1 away to another of their big rivals, Manchester United. The last thing the Liverpool manager needs is another defeat at the hands of Everton.
Amazingly, Everton’s brilliant 3-1 win over Chelsea is their only home win of the season. An opening day draw against Watford and that 2-0 defeat to City are their only other games at Goodison this season which is further evidence of how well they have performed to pick up so many points on the road. The win over Albion means they now have taken eight points from a possible twelve and prolong their unbeaten run to six in all competitions on their travels. That’s a possible indication of their preference to play on the break but Monday’s win also showed they are equally as effective when having to force the issue and take the game to the opponents. Roberto Martinez’ men will be expected to be on the front foot in Sunday’s game to try and prey on what appears to be Liverpool side lacking in confidence.
One positive that Rodgers can look to ahead of the derby is the return to fitness of Daniel Sturridge. The last season and a bit has been disrupted with multiple injuries but Sturridge looked like his old self when notching a brace in the win over Villa last weekend. Those were his first goals since the 22nd of March and there is no question that the Reds have severely missed him. At the moment it appears he will be forming a partnership with Danny Ings, but the understanding with Philippe Coutinho is probably what excites Liverpool fans most. The Brazilian laid on both the strikers goals last week and that could be the spark this team needs as they bid to pick up more points.
Everton v Liverpool Betting Tips
These contests are often played at a frenetic pace and the compact pitch only adds to the intensity with seemingly little space for either team to operate in. The one exception to that in recent times was last season’s encounter which ended goalless and in truth, very little happened. For all involved, especially for the neutral, hopefully Sunday’s game is much more enthralling. There is plenty of optimism that will be the case as neither team can really afford to be as passive, this time around.
Five of the last six derbies have ended in a draw which is evidence of how closely matched these two have been over the last few years. There could well be another stalemate on Sunday but there should still be plenty of action. The bet I always look first to for this particular game is the over/under corner markets. The last six meetings between these two at Goodison have seen 9, 13, 14, 14, 15 and 10. In terms of this season, games involving Everton have an average of 12 corners whilst Liverpool’s average 11.
I expect tomorrow’s game to be much of the same and the overs should land comfortably if the trends and currenr form are anything to go by.
Over 10.5 corners 5/6 @ Stan James
